How close is Greek to Ancient Greek (language)?

4 Comments

1. Zoi says:

   October 6, 2009 at 9:12 pm

   Yes MODERN AND ANCIENT GREEK ARE MUCH MORE SIMILAR THAN ITALIAN AND ROMAN.
   Just give me some time to think of Italian and Latin examples (I know both ‘languages’).
   About Greek language. View this
   MODERN GREEK VERB ‘eho’= to have, declination.Present tense.
   ego eho
   esy eheis
   aftos ehei
   emeis ehoume
   eseis ehete
   aftoi ehoun
   ANCIENT GREEK VERB ‘eho’=to have, the same verb. Present tense.
   ego eho
   sy eheis
   outos ehei
   hmeis ehomen
   ymeis ehete
   outoi ehousin.

   MODERN GREEK. noun ‘anthropos’=human.DECLINATION
   o anthropos
   tou anthropou
   ton anthropo
   w anthrope

   oi anthropoi
   twn anthropwn
   tous anthropous
   w anthropoi

   ANCIENT GREEK. noun ‘anthropos’=human. DECLINATION of the same word.
   o anthropos
   tou anthropou
   to anthropo
   ton anthropo
   w anthrope

   oi anthropoi
   ton anthropwn
   tois anthropois
   tous anthropous
   w anthropoi
   * ANCIENT GREEK LANGUAGE HAS ONE CAUSE MORE, CALLED DATIVE (dotiki), MODERN GREEK IS MORE SIMPLIFIED, HASN’T DATIVE.

   Another example
   MODERN GREEK. VERB ‘LYW’= I UNTIE. SIMPLE PAST
   ego elysa
   esy elyses
   aftos elyse
   emeis lysame
   eseis lysate
   aftoi elysan
   THE SAME VERB AND TENSE IN ANCIENT GREEK LANGUAGE
   ego elysa
   sy elysas
   outos elyse
   hmeis elysamen
   ymeis elysate
   outoi elysan

   Another example would be a brief text.
   Another time you can pick a text from Xenophon (not from Plato, Thoukidides) and call us to tell you the same words and meaning in ancient and modern Greek.
   ———-
   VERBS IN MODERN AND ANCIENT GREEK
   - to fall= piptw/ peftw. But the ancient form of the verb is preserved in other synthetic verbs for example
   sym-piptw/ sym-piptw.

   - to save: swzw/ swzw
   etc.
   ——
   DIFFERENCES IN MODERN AND ANCIENT GREEK
   Ancient Greek contains verb forms (and some noun causes) that are not preserved in modern Greek.
   This is the main reason why Ancient Greek much be tought and if not, it is questionable how good a modern Greek can understand an ancient greek text, depending on the text mostly.
   For example
   Modern Greek hasn’t Subjunctive, Optative, infinitive, while Ancient Greek has.
   The declination of those forms can be very tricky for a modern Greek who hasn’t them in his language. So, he is able to understand the verb but not the exact meaning in the text.
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_grammar
   ———————
   I want to say something: Those who want to say that ancient and modern Greek aren’t the same language (there are some people in other countries, I don’t mean the asker), they can do something very useful for them and us: just learn both Ancient and Greek language.
2. Artemis says:

   October 6, 2009 at 9:12 pm

   Yes Ancient Greek is taught at schools. Not many children enjoy it though.
3. Airpole says:

   October 6, 2009 at 9:12 pm

   Since the total of the proper modern Greek has its origin to the Ancient Greek most words have similar root. However, just as any living language, modern Greek is all the more getting away from its origin.
   It takes a very educated person, in grammar mostly, to recognize the root of the ancient word and its development through the ages.
   Apart form the lettering which in all purposes contains some of the original letters understanding the meaning of the word you read necessitates extreme knowledge to understand it too.
   For instance I can read the inscription of and ancient tomb but I will have great difficulty to understand what the word I read means, unless is a word with root that is recognizable . But mostly they will all be Greek to me too.

   The works of the Ancient Authors are read in schools but in a more modern version of the original which again is different from the spoken language.
4. GREEK GOddESS♥ says:

   October 6, 2009 at 9:12 pm

   Ancient and modern Greek are much closer than Latin with Italian. It definitely involved as most languages do and yes all Greek students are required to study ancient Greek works and literature in schools. I am Greek American and in one of my Greek classes in High School we had to read an ancient Greek text (Antigone) and it was not that hard to comprehend.